Multi-channel Marketing – The Benefits and Challenges

What is Multi-channel marketing?

WHAT IS MULTI-CHANNEL MARKETING?

Multi-Channel Marketing refers to the use of many different marketing platforms to get a message across

One channel is no longer enough

Consumers now expect to be able to interact with an organisation in a number of different ways

In turn, organisations that do not facilitate and optimise such interaction can expect this to have a negative impact on customers and, in turn, on your business

Stand still and you are left behind!

Some of the different marketing platforms in wide use today are SEO, Text Ads, Banner Ads, Retargeting, Affiliate networks, Social Networks, Emails, Texts, Websites, Mobile, Print and  TV

This article explores the benefits and challenges of Multi-Channel Marketing

WHY THE NEED FOR MULTI-CHANNEL MARKETING?

The unprecedented technological change over the past few years has impacted on every area of our lives

Whether at work or home, most activities and processes have been simply revolutionised

Latest estimates indicate that over 50 billion devices will be connected to the internet by 2020

Along with – and as part of – this sea change, customers expect to be able to interact with businesses wherever, whenever, and however they choose

A marketing strategy  ignores this expectation at its peril

BENEFITS OF MULTI-CHANNEL MARKETING

There are many benefits of Multi-Channel Marketing, not just in terms of increasing sales but also business growth

Using a range of different channels enables a much wider reach, making your business potentially visible to new customer groupings

Many of the different platforms provide marketers with a range of analytics to enable their impact to be accurately measured

This enables marketing to become increasingly more intelligent and informed, targeting specific groups via specific combinations of channels

Longer term, the use of Multi-Channel Marketing is also cost effective

Targeted, measurable marketing ensures that resources are being deployed increasingly effectively and efficiently, therefore keeping operational costs down

A carefully integrated marketing strategy needs to ensure consistency – and therefore economies of scale – in the content of the marketing message

It can then be distributed cohesively and effectively across various platforms and multiple channels

One message, many channels

Another key benefit of Multi-Channel Marketing is that it enables businesses to engage with an audience on a frequent and interactive basis

This interaction can not only supplement and reinforce the key marketing messages but also give more insight into the culture of the organisation – for example through regular Twitter feeds – creating a more personalised face

This can be invaluable in building up customer following and resulting in increased brand loyalty

Multi-Channel Marketing can also be used in less direct ways

“Retargeting” describes online ad placements or display advertising which works by the use of “cookies”

When a customer clicks on a businesses website a cookie is set

That cookie can then be used as a  way of targeting the same customer when they visit other sites

“Remarketing” is a term used a lot in email interactions and during the buying life cycle

For example, the personalised emails Amazon produce after you have purchased a product

As we saw earlier, the overall purpose of a Multi-Channel Marketing strategy is to help business growth as well as increase sales

Both Google and Bing rank a business’s website using data collected from social media platforms, meaning that to achieve high rankings in these search engines sites like Facebook and Twitter should be an active part of any SEO Strategy

This applies to content as much – if not more so – as images,  videos and links

Google, for example, continue to push for quality content over quantity

Correct spelling, the use of proper grammar and longer content pieces are all elements that build higher ratings

As well as being a benefit, this can also be a challenge!

CHALLENGES OF MULTI-CHANNEL MARKETING

As we have just seen, in terms of Multi-Channel Marketing, content is still King! Each channel brings something different to the marketing mix, potentially targeting different audiences across the multiple platforms

Content therefore needs to be tailored to suit each  channel, while still following a core message

By skilful use of marketing analytics, intelligence can be gained about which marketing channels reach which type of customer groupings, and how the particular audience for each channel tends to use it

This knowledge and information is invaluable when creating a Multi-Channel Marketing strategy

It is not enough simply to release a message onto as many platforms as possible

The idea is to reach the business’s target market effectively through selective use of the most appropriate and proven channels for that target market

Recognition of the differences between channels will also aid in building tailored content

For example, Twitter needs to be to the point, within the 140 character limit

Tweets should use links to websites or other channels, directing the flow of traffic to your advantage

Facebook , on the other hand, can be much more visual through p